Local Sports

February 19, 2013

IDAHO FALLS â€” The Shelley Russets were in the drivers seat as they entered Monday nights 3A Mountain Rivers championship game against Sugar-Salem. As it was, Shelley enjoyed the fact that they were unblemished in the double-elimination tournament so a loss on Monday would not eliminate their conference title dreams as the dreaded if needed game loomed on Wednesday evening.
Shelley decided to avoid that route however as they broke open a 32-32 third quarter tie with a dazzling 17 point fourth quarter to capture the district title with a 49-41 victory.

February 17, 2013

NAMPA â€” For the past several seasons the Snake River Lady Panthers have been knocking on the door. On Saturday, the Lady Panthers kicked that door in and then sprinted their way to the first girls state basketball championship in program history as they downed the Filer Wildcats 51-34 at the Idaho Center in Nampa.
"It's the first time that a Snake River Panther girls basketball team has been in a state championship game and the kids responded real well," Snake River head coach Rich Dunn said. "The funny thing about it is that our first two games over here this weekend were probably the worst that we've played in the four years that we've been here. It just so happens that this year we were able to get ourselves into the championship game and I thought that tonight was the first night that we played good basketball. It's good to get over that hump. You have to get there to be that program and we want to be that program."

February 16, 2013

ST. ANTHONY â€” The was a huge sigh of relief coming from the Firth side of the court on Friday evening as they held off a valiant effort from the North Fremont Huskies, advancing to the 2A Nuclear Conference championship game with a breath taking 47-46 victory.

February 15, 2013

ARIMO â€” The Snake River Panthers dominated the 3A district five championships at Marsh Valley on Thursday, defending their district title from a season previous with 259 team points to outdistance second place American Falls for the team title.
"This was probably the best showing that any of my teams have ever had at the district tournament since I've been coaching," Snake River head coach Jeff Gardner said.

February 14, 2013

IONA â€” The Blackfoot Broncos took to the Bonneville mats on Wednesday looking to run their district championship streak to fifteen. Unfortunately the men in black came up short of that team goal as Bonneville captured the team title with 519.5 points while Blackfoot came home with the second place hardware with 409.5 points. Pocatello rounded out the top three with 293 points.
â€śIt was a big day for our kids,â€ť Blackfoot head coach Thain Cashmore said. â€śThey had to go out, put their toes on the line and prove themselves one more time.â€ť

February 13, 2013

POCATELLO â€” The Snake River Panthers opened defense of their conference championship on Wednesday evening as the top seeded squad squared off with the American Falls Beavers at Pocatello High School.
The game started in nightmarish fashion for the Panthers as they struggled from the field and the free throw line in the opening stanza as they shot 10 of 19 from the charity stripe and connected on just one shot from the field.
Adding injury to insult was the horrific moment when Brad Coombs laid screaming on the floor with a dislocated toe. Despite the rough beginning however, Snake River showed their depth and talent as they cruised into next Tuesday nights conference championship game with a 63-42 victory.

February 13, 2013

PRESTON â€” Make no mistake about it. Blackfoot was in trouble heading into the fourth quarter of their opening round conference tournament game at Preston on Tuesday night. That is until a small defensive shift to a pressure man-to-man look. That subtle adjustment on the defensive end sparked a fourth quarter comeback as the men in black advanced to the right side of the tournament bracket with a hard fought 48-45 victory.
"We just put our emphasis on more pressure in our man defense," Blackfoot head coach Dan Hale said. "We wanted to see how they would react to it and we were able to get into the passing lanes which disrupted what they were trying to do."

February 12, 2013

IDAHO FALLS â€” The Shelley Russets got a good view of just what can happen in district tournament play as they watched game one go double overtime before the top seeded Sugar-Salem Diggers finally prevailed over the fourth seeded South Fremont squad.
That eye opener served the Russets well as any thoughts of a Teton upset was quickly dispelled as the Russets rolled throughout the night to a convincing 64-34 victory.